Medieval Hindu saints affirmed caste and never preached actual human equality

Evidence

With regard to the saints, one must admit that howsoever different and elevating their teachings may have been as compared to those of the merely learned, they have been lamentably ineffective. They have been ineffective for two reasons. Firstly, none of the saints ever attacked the caste system. On the contrary—they were staunch believers in the system of castes. Most of them lived and died as members of the castes to which they respectively belonged. … They did not preach that all men were equal. They preached that all men were equal in the eyes of god—a very different and a very innocuous proposition, which nobody can find difficult to preach or dangerous to believe in. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1233

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader argument of the reply that saint-led spirituality offered no structural challenge; also links to Marx’s insight that religious equality-in-heaven deflects from earthly inequality.
• ADDENDUM: Parallels the logic of the sacrificial-religion discussion: religion that projects justice into a transcendent realm conserves the earthly status quo.